DEEZDEN

2 beauties in 4 colours

2012-01-21T18:55:00.016+01:00

Following up from my previous post titled 'Cutting the wood,'

here is the final print: woodcut: 4 colour from separate blocks:

hand-drawn, hand-carved, hand-printed.

15 inches x 22 inches on a beautiful Canson paper.

For those of you who missed my Facebook updates,

here are some W-I-P snaps through the process:

Yellow Block

Red block

Prints drying after the first two colours are hand printed......

Third colour - blue - on.....

Final detailing with the last block in beautiful black!

For you reader friends who wait for me to post here on Blogger,

I'd love for you to drop by on my FB page as well,

as I keep posting studio progress updates there.

Thank you

2011-12-31T14:22:00.006+01:00

*for walking alongside me through another very special year*

You make me happy!

My prayers, my love and my best wishes with you for 2012!

*hope*light*music*life*love*beauty*

Cutting the wood

2011-12-12T06:00:00.003+01:00

Times of India Durgotsav 2011

2011-12-03T10:30:00.004+01:00

My Durga Image used by TOI for the second year in a row!

(Newspaper campaign, Delhi, 26th September - 4th October, 2011)

Interview with Culturama

2011-11-29T06:16:00.008+01:00

My Bengali Lakshmi from 2009 used for the cover of Culturama (October 2011 issue), India's only free cultural magazine for expatriates that works towards promoting an understanding of Indian culture.

You can read the interview (pg 7) on Issuu.

A big thank you to the entire team of Culturama for this feature.

Linocut Print

2011-11-25T18:44:00.008+01:00

This image made a beautiful journey from a pencil layout to the grooves of a block

and finally landed, in bright purple and black, on a deliciously textured archival paper.

The text is a line from a Tagore song:

'Kotobaar bhebechhinu aapona bhuliya'.

I am running way behind my normal blogging pace as printmaking and some

painting assignments are leaving me with hardly any time to post.

To see more photos of my printmaking work from my Printmaking-Guru

Ramendra Nath Kastha's studio, visit my FB page.

None of this would have been possible if it hadn't been for

a wonderful teacher who never fails to inspire.

Thank you readers, for your patience - your visits, (even the quiet ones) mean a lot to Deezden.

Printmaking in Kolkata

2011-10-11T18:49:00.012+02:00

I had come to Kolkata for my cousin brother's wedding

in July and we had plans of going back in a month's time.

However, hubby needed to stay back to carry through

a project launch, so I happily obliged. Happily - because that meant

my chance to explore the city and its art scene.

The first thing I did was visit the esteemed GCAC

to find out if there was a suitable creative space that I could work and learn at.

A meeting with the Principal where I could share my work

and express my interest in Printmaking led to something wonderful.

The college has offered me the opportunity to attend its printmaking

department for a month, starting November 2011.

That might happen if I do stay back till December.

The college building is charming with its red walls, beautiful hand painted

murals and huge corridors wrapped in the lush green trees.

The ancient staircases and the decorative walls

are very well maintained and precious artwork adorns the walls

of this building that contains 144 years of history.

I was asked not to take any more photos but I had to share the ones I had.

I explored the possibilities of learning printmaking without having to wait that long

and that led me to my current workspace!

Am training here everyday, my current focus is relief prints.

Here are some image updates from today's work:

This is a 4 colour composition, in red-green.black and white.

Cutting the block of wood is the starting point.

The first set of prints have been taken and then you cut the block again

to prepare it for the second colour.

This is my third print, the first 2 were 2 and 3-colour sets.

It's great fun to cut up a composition on these blocks,

ink them and then take prints manually.

Another student at the studio, cuts his linoleum block

for a 4 colour print. It was my wish to make woodcut

prints for a long time, little did I know that it'll actually happen.

For those of you waiting for the Durga Puja photos (I have too many!),

I have created another blog for these and I'll be posting

all my captures (image n videos) there.

You can start following to get updates as and when the posts are made.

Image updates from Kolkata :I: Mahalaya & Tarpan

2011-09-30T07:00:00.021+02:00

That time of the year again,when Kolkata feels insanely alive.

Maa Durga has come to town, the city is on a hyper drive

with last minute shopping being finished on one side and

pandal construction + Goddess installations on the other.

Both spectacular. Both maddening.

Mahalaya is the day which heralds the beginning of the festival.

A day that every Bengali starts with the radio telecast of

Birendra Krishna Bhadra's Mahishasur Mardini.

A day when thousands of Hindus take a dip in Maa Ganga

and pay respect to the departed ancestors with food offerings - tarpan.

Here are some images from the ghats.

The priests play a very important role and wait at the steps

of the ghats, take each and every one up to the river,

chant prayers and guide the offering process.

The little boys and girls, some of who are probably not even very sure

what this is all about, just soak in the glory of the ambiance

and enjoy the dip in the waters!

Street musicians from rural Bengal play at the banks,

kirtans or devotional songs, mostly praising Lord Krishna.

A young priest who held hands and prayed for many that morning.

The beautiful green soil of the river came up to the banks

and before every offering is made, the priest puts a

little bit of the holy soil on the foreheads on the worshipers.

While the river banks woke up to offerings of tarpan,

the rest of the city witnessed the homecoming, literally,

huge idols of the Goddess being lifted and carried to

what will be her home for the next 10 days.

I am hoping to take and post puja photos from Kolkata

as a series, so stay tuned. Shubho Mahalaya and happy pujas to all.

Featured in BBC Good Homes

2011-09-04T08:56:00.012+02:00

Time for a couple of updates for all my readers. My work has been featured

in the the BBC Good Homes India magazine September Issue 2011,

article 'Doe-eyed damsels' in their art/designer profiles feature

titled 'Homemade beauties'.

I am honoured to be part of this wonderful magazine

and even more so to share space here with two ladies who need no introduction,

whom I admire and whose work I adore:

Vineeta Nair (who has been an inspiration & a huge support for me

since the time we e-met each other on blog land) and Kalyani Ganapathy.

A big thanks to Chandana Banerjee and the BBC Good Homes India team.

Chandana blogs at cookiejarsandfireflies where she says:

''Writing and journalism are my bread, butter and jam;

running Pink Elephant Writing Studio, the coffee I need every morning;

embroidery, art and craft, the icing on the cake.'' Indeed!

The second update, I was in India for a wedding in the family since July end

and had plans of returning to Geneva end of August.

However, there have been some change of plans and

we are not going back until Durga puja is over.

One of the first things I did when we decided to extend our stay

was to visit the art institutes and galleries to explore

possibilities, and, the response has been great so far.

More updates on that front later. Painting and blogging resumes.

Ganesh-ji visits us during Chaturthi each year,

which was at the beginning of this month.

Here is Ganesha dressed as a north-Indian groom

with his two wives Ridhhi and Sidhhi

dressed in a southern Indian traditional style.

Mount: Gallery wrapped canvas

Medium : Acrylics

Size: 20.5 cm X 25cm

Ridhhi and Sidhhi have brought him his favourite sweets

(modaks from the Mumbai and rasgullas from the Kolkata).

My work started here on this blog,

with all of you and it is your support and feedback that

keeps me going, thank you for your patience and love.

The golden deer আমার সোনার হরিণ চাই

2011-07-20T00:45:00.014+02:00

''The Golden Deer''

30 cm x 30 cm

(Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas,

finished with matte and glossy varnish)

Inspired by the words of a song by Tagore.

''তোরা যে যা বলিস ভাই আমার সোনার হরিণ চাই
ও সেই মনোহরণ চপল চরণ সোনার হরিণ চাই''

''সে যে চমকে বেড়ায় দৃষ্টি এড়ায় যায় না তারে বাঁধা

সে যে নাগাল পেলে পালায় ঠেলে লাগায় চোখে ধাঁধা

আমি ছুটব পিছে মিছে মিছে পাই বা নাহি পাই

আমি আপন মনে মাঠে বনে উধাও হয়ে ধাই''

Tagore describes the deer as an elusive,

evasive creature - untamed and unattainable.

Yet, the poet is determined to chase it without a care.

The concept of chasing the golden deer has its origins in the Ramayana,

an episode humorously told in the animation below:

In fact, the deer has played significant roles in

mythologies across the world.

In the Indian context, the golden deer symbolises maya,

an illusion, that which prevents man

from seeing the world as it truely is.

We are all chasing the golden deer, each one of us,

in different forms......aren't we :) ? !!

Moving on from that rather philosophical thought (ahem!),

here are some depictions of this scene from the epic tale

through different Indian folk art forms:

Malwa miniature painting in bright bold colours,

dating back to circa 1634 -40 A.D.

A madhubani depiction in the typical folk style.

A north-Indian miniature style rendition of the scene.

Another very ornate Orissa patachitra (scroll painting) style illustration.

Even Hussain rendered this, in fact, this was one of his works auctioned

a few hours after the news of his passing.

Last, but not the least, a page from one of my favourite books

of vintage Indian match box designs on the deer.

You'll see the starting point of my painting in one of these,

no points for guessing which one :)!

Hope you enjoyed this post, the print of this painting

will be available in my shop in a couple of days.

Sketch-in-progress::commission

2011-06-05T12:37:00.004+02:00

This is the creative for a prospective commission.

Update on the Kamdhenu painting: I have it back (yay!),

thank you for your support.

Have a super Sunday lovelies!

Featured on Of Indian Origin

2011-06-02T10:55:00.009+02:00

Yours truly has been featured on Of Indian Origin today!

If you don't know already, Of Indian Origin is a fantastic art and design

platform that showcases work that, essentially,

has its roots in India and Indian sensibilities.

I am very glad to be a part of this platform that boasts of

features and interviews of eminent names in the industry.

Click on the image above to go to the article titled

Gods, Goddesses & Gorgeous Women :).

Thank you Nisha John for this!

কি জানি কিসের লাগি প্রাণ করে হায় হায়

2011-05-24T13:33:00.008+02:00

Untitled

Medium :Acrylics

Support: Gallery wrapped canvas

Finished with gloss and matte varnish

Size: 18cm x 24cm

The text in Bengali says: 'কি জানি কিসের লাগি প্রাণ করে হায় হায়'

- the last two lines in a Tagore poem, roughly translating to:

''I know not why....for what I long

Why my heart does so cry.''

You can hear (and see) the song

in this video below, which is a beautiful scene

from Satyajit Ray's Charulata.

In this context, I have to share with you the poster of this 60's film,

that I absolutely love, that has Ray's artwork on it.

Inspiration for one little detail: the tiles on the wall are inspired by these walls

in my maternal aunt's Kolkata home.

It has almost been a couple of months that I didn't blog.

I was slightly pre-occupied with some other engagements.

The Kaamdhenu painting is with my printer

for over a month. I usually deposit the painting

(especially the larger ones) with my wonderful

and very trusted scanner/designer/printer

in town and usually hear back in a day or two to collect.

He has not been reachable since, his office is closed and unreachable

on all the phone numbers of him that I have.

Pablo, if you are reading this, pls call back.

I hope you are OK, safe and in good health.

Maa Kamdhenu painting

2011-03-28T17:30:00.010+02:00

Title: 'Kamdhenu Maa'

(Hindu Goddess Kamdhenu, the wish-granting cow)

Size: 60 cm x 80 cm

Medium and mount: Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas.

She has the head and torso of a woman,

a cow's body, an eagle's wings & a peacock's tail.

Her eyes are the Sun and Moon Gods.

Her four legs - the scriptural Vedas.

Her horns are the triune Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Her eyes are the Sun and Moon Gods,

Her legs contain the Himalayas.

She grants your every wish :) !

The textile painted on her back has

patterns & colours inspired by MORA

(beautiful designs by the wonderful Ritika Mittal).

My 'tota's/parrots sit on her wings

as your wish-granting angels.

This piece has taken 3 weeks of

painstaking work, well, hope to have done justice

to the awe-inspiring form of this most beautiful Goddess.

Holi है

2011-03-20T13:34:00.009+01:00

Happy Holi readers.

More colour, joy and peace to everyone.

Kamdhenu WIP

2011-03-17T21:37:00.005+01:00

Just a sneak peak into some of the details

of my painting-in-progress.

Also, there are new prints in the shop.

Etsy Treasury (n) Feature

2011-03-12T14:00:00.005+01:00

Just got featured on Etsy today:

This is my 21st treasury feature on www.etsy.com !

Made me really happy, so I went ahead and curated

a 'Chai' treasury for my lovely friends and readers:

hop over and take a look :)

Have a good weekend!

texture

2011-02-26T15:31:00.003+01:00

studio sneak peak

2011-02-24T23:39:00.005+01:00

Just posting randomly at 00:01 hours.

I have been working on these handmade tags

to be packaged with my prints.

They are printed with

wooden hand-printing blocks

originally from Rajasthan

that I keep picking up from Anokhi.

There is a peacock, a flower, a fish

and some cool Hindu deity blocks - love 'em!

Cute little handmade thank you tags

for my lovely collectors, each piece is unique :) !

The flowers have dried up beautifully,

their colour and form - brilliant.

Here is how they look by the soft candle light.

Now it is time to get back to finish

processing these orders, post office tomorrow morning.

Thank you God :) !

Kaamdhenu Maa sketch

2011-02-22T11:28:00.003+01:00

'Kaamdhenu Maa'

Mixed media on my favourite

clairfontaine watercolour paper note book.

Now am going to start work on the painting,

which will be in a much larger format.

See you soon!

just another update

2011-02-21T16:56:00.008+01:00

Some snaps from 14.02. evening at home:

One of the many wonderful birthday wishes that

i received from you all on Facebook,

was this one message that bore this image of Kamadhenu Maa:

This one was from the wonderful photographer

and my FB friend Katya Peshakova.

I remember seeing some photos of this Goddess

while browsing books on Indian Folk art

at a Kolkata book store and being totally fascinated and

awestruck by her form and beauty.

This just had to be my next painting.

So, while the sun is making patterns on my walls today...

......and all birthday flowers are hung against the kitchen window to dry ......

.....while my FB friends keep me entertained

and the most amazing sufiana music plays on the laptop...

i am having a brilliant time sketching for my next piece.....

বাড়ি ছাড়া (away from home)

2011-02-14T17:33:00.011+01:00

'বাড়ি ছাড়া '

(Bari: Home; Chhara: Left, leaving, without)

Acrylic on mounted canvas.

Size: 18 cm x 24 cm

I am back from India after 2 months.

I had the most wonderful time with my family,

loved ones and my wonderful friends.

The home in this painting resembles the home

I grew up in, near Kolkata, the home that is filled

with countless happy childhood memories.

Geneva is being nice to us with the sun

shining through, letting me hold on to

and reminisce the good times spent in Kolkata.

I have loads of photos and experiences to share with you all,

it'll all come - by and by.

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes,

you really made my day so special.

Have a lovely love filled day.

Shubh Makar Sankranti

2011-01-15T18:12:00.006+01:00

Happy Makar Sankranti.

May this day mark the beginning of a sweet and

fragrant time for you and your family.

As the days become warmer and longer,

let all the darkness and the cold fade away

and give in completely to the light and warmth

- of goodness, love and positivity.

Today is a day that is marked

with the festivities of harvest,

an auspicious day for us in India.

We Bongs celebrate the day

with 'peethe' and 'patishapta',

(special sweets filled with coconut, jaggery or kheer)

to be relished with generous helpings of

'jhola gur'- one of the treasures of the season.

The unique woven hangings that you see

are handmade by rural women in Bengal with paddy,

the first photo is of one of the artists displaying her work.

We tie them to the kitchen door and wardrobe handles

to welcome Goddess Lakshmi into our homes.

Thank you all for your wishes and blessings.

Keep well, be happy.

thankful

2010-12-31T12:50:00.009+01:00

Remembering you all from the land of spices and sweets.

Am thankful today:

for art to have come into my life,

for all you wonderful people -

for your love, support.

Am inspired,

to go forward and explore:

there is so much more to be seen and felt.

The date on the canvas changes again,

for whatever happened

and whatever did not;

no regrets,

no expectations:

there is a long way ahead;

the journey is the destination indeed.

Am thankful today.

Best wishes for the new year,

as Coelho says, 'May the universe conspire

to make all your dreams come true'.

Random nice 'Kolkata' things

2010-12-23T10:00:00.057+01:00

As you can guess, I am indulging shamelessly in the

little pleasures of home, here are some snapshots

from what life is like right now :) :

This was the first photo I took after coming home,

fresh roses from our garden in a vintage vase.

The glorious morning sun kisses the walls in my room every morning,

a welcome change from Geneva's snow and harsh winter.

Leisurely evenings spent with friends and family,

with delicious Bengali food and adda....

...with only one rule to follow - one must completely lose track of time.

Speaking of food , below is one of the gems of Bengali cuisine, the Luchi.

Mom's luchis are the world's best, I had 15 of these in one go, shhhhh.

As a thank you for your feedback on the last post,

here are the photos of the good stuff

that I picked up from the Saras Mela.

Ethnic character dolls from the Katwa region,

Bardhamaan (my home) District (West Bengal)

quite the family tree there (with the family pet - the wise owl).

A cute little Maa Durga patachitra by Tapan Chitrakar

from Naya, Midnapur district. I think

I'll take Her back to him to have the Goddess's weapons added (!).

Here is my favourite, a Durga painting (the second one from left)

that I collected from Madhu Chitrakar. Love his work.

Handmade and painted tiny wooden temple of

Shree Jagannath, form of Lord Krishna, from Orissa.

This is another rendition of Lord Jagannath, hand-painted on a coconut shell.

A leather puppet from Andhra Pradesh, I like how feisty she looks

and holds her hair - almost as if she is getting ready to fight.

Here is nice post on Tholu Bommalata,

(Tholu – leather, Bommalata – puppet dance).

Handmade papier-mâché masks from Orissa:

faces of Gods and Goddesses painted in a traditional folk style.

These I collected from an Christmas special exhibition

called Burra Din organized by the

Craft Council of West Bengal.

Meeting all these artists and now being surrounded by their art

is hugely inspirational. So I made a quick trip to

my favourite art supply store in town.

This is the first drawing. Ganeshji with four hands,

seated in a lotus with the backdrop of

water, trees and snow-capped mountains.

Details:

Shot in different lights,

the first snap is truest to the original page colour.

Hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season.

Live it up and stay safe.

Saras Mela - the Indian handmade paradise

2010-12-14T00:05:00.025+01:00

Hello readers! How have you been?

I couldn't keep away from Deezden and you guys

as I have so much of the blissful stuff

(read: sights and sounds from Kol) to share!

One of the wonderful things about winter in India is that melas are organized,

many of them showcasing handcrafted goodies,

art (folk and traditional) and sumptuous local street food.

We visited the Saras Mela 2010,

an exhibition of rural artisans from all over India.

It was such a treat for the senses -

I'll let the photographs do the talking.

Right outside the main entrance, there was

this cutest mustard-yellow painted bhelpuri mobile store.

In a way this cart symbolizes one of the biggest weaknesses

of my life, a k a, Kolkata street food!

The festive welcome decor was bursting with colour.

They have hung terracotta bell-shapes that

looked to me like locally used chai cups we call bhars.

The fair is choc-a-block with handcrafted jewellery and beads,

as you can see, a brilliant riot of colours....

A baul selling the Iktaras (the one-stringed instruments)

taught me a thing or two about how to string and play it!

Leather handmade puppets from Andhra Pradesh,

we got home some delightful ones from the Ramayana series.

Handcrafted wooden toys from Bengal - unadulterated joy,

makes me wanna be a kid again whenever I see these.

Clay dolls in seemingly gaudy florescent colours,

wrapped in cellophane paper, included figurines of

a Bengali bride and groom, Hindu Gods and Goddesses,

freedom fighters and national heroes, saints,

even Charlie Chaplin and a certain

French blonde mademoiselle with her blue chapeau,

I heart them.

Wood-and-cloth puppets from Rajasthan -

in characters such as the snake charmer, the warrior,

the desert folk dancer, etc. in traditional costumes.

Then there were the handwoven and hand-embroidered

textiles from across the country. Here is one my favourite pieces from the fair:

Ikkat, the traditional handloom from Orissa,

this beautifully red piece bears Jagannath-ji in its delicate weave.

The hand embroidered shawls and jackets from Jammu & Kashmir

- wow craftsmanship, patterns and colours!

Each of these shawls take over a month to make.

This following stores from Rajasthan were filled with

adorable mobiles, decorations and bangles....

Finally coming to what was surely, for me, the best part of the fair:

let me introduce to you some of the delightful artists

that I had the chance to meet at the fair and

share with you their gorgeous work.

A Madhubani artist stands in front of her display,

said she made art along with a group

of eleven other female artists from her village,

every day after the day's chores are all done.

Bravo ladies, for your dedication, talent,

hard-work and entrepreneurship.

The Chitrakars (Patachitra artists) from Naya

made our visit super special. They have travelled all the way from Midnapur

after wrapping up the Pat-Maya Festival about a month ago.

Here is a photo of Tapan Chitrakar at work:

...and here, the fruit of his labour:

His daughter, a very bright young lady,

sings beautifully as she narrates one of her

father's compositions, titled ' The wedding of a (certain

Bengali) fish' in the traditional folk style.

Later on in the evening, she went up on stage and performed

in front of a large audience with her father's artwork.

The very talented Moyna Chitrakar is a feisty lady

who is carrying on her family tradition, against all odds.

(Moyna standing in the second photograph in front of

a painting made by her grandfather).

And one would see that her work is so well complimented

by her artist husband Maleek Chitrakar,

who always greets you with a smile and

very patiently explains the nuances of their compositions.

He did a beautiful narration of one of their

joint compositions, an ancient Bengali folk tale.

Art for these people is a way of life,

an invaluable heirloom that they fight to guard, nurture

and pass on to the next generation.

This is art that empowers, educates and inspires.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did making it.

Stay inspired, stay happy.

Shree Hanuman sketch

2010-12-03T12:06:00.004+01:00

Jai Bajrangbali!

I'll be leaving for India next Thursday, the 9th of Dec,

will be back in Feb.

I'll try to blog from India, but you know how

crazy it gets when you go home after 2 long years :)

Much love to all DEEZDEN readers,

for the unconditional love, support, all the emails you write to me

and all the orders you placed with deezden.etsy.com in 2010.

For those of you who didn't know,

here is my FB page, drop by to get shop updates or just a 'hi' :)

Love and hugs x

WIP

2010-11-24T14:08:00.004+01:00

Preparing to leave for India early December, for a couple of months :)

All my time now dedicated to researching, planning and coordinating trips within India

and between calling guest houses and travel guides,

am working on some sketches.

Maa brought me several calendars from Kolkata

on my parents' last trip to Geneva, am a huge fan of

Indian mythological calendar art...using them

as references for my Hanumaan rendition.

Maa Lokhhi

2010-11-02T19:12:00.009+01:00

'Maa Lokhhi' (Bengali Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth)

(Commissioned art)

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 40 cm x 50 cm

Finished with matte & glossy varnish

Details:

The details took me months to finish,

glad to be able to share the snaps with you all finally!

Thank you PB for this one :)

Geneva Puja preparations

2010-10-12T22:35:00.019+02:00

It is that time of the year again,

when we welcome and bring home Maa Durga in our hearts,

no matter how far we may be from our homes.

We tuned in to Kolkata LIVE radio through our laptops,

to listen to AIR broadcast of Mahishashur Mardini by Birendra Krishna Bhadra

for Mahalaya at 12:30 am, Geneva time,

what better way to commence the festivities!

The photos in this post were taken on the last day of

decorations; this year, we put together a very pretty backdrop

with Bengali sarees (handlooms and silks, with gold work on them).

The textiles used are all in shades of the most festive Indian reds,

with green and yellow accents.

Here is a closer look at some of the figures,

starting with Maa Lokkhi (Lakshmi), the Goddess of Wealth:

Maa Saraswati (The Goddess of Knowledge and Learning);

Lakshmi and Saraswati are the two daughters of Durga:

Mahishasura (love how dramatic his face is in every rendition):

Lord Kartik (one of the two sons of Durga, Lord Ganesha beinf the other)

Closer look at the decorations:

Hand crafted chaandmalas (Bengali: chaand - moon, mala - garland),

these are traditional adornments,

also hung for the Mother's hands, one of the essentials of the puja.

Let me also share with you this video,

sent to me by Halley Goswami from Kolkata.

Halley is a very talented and very young self-taught artist

who makes Durga idols from the scratch every year at home for the puja.

Brilliant work!

For those of you who wish to attend the puja in Geneva,

here are the details:

Venue:

Centre Vedantique

Avenue d’Aire 63

CH-1203 Geneva

(Junction of Avenue d’Aire and Avenue des Eidguenots)

Tel. +41-22-3407807

(Public transport: bus # 27, 7; Bus stop: Camille Martin)

For further queries, feel free to email me at happydithi@gmail.com

Date and time: 15th october, 2010, Puja begins at 18:45 hours.

More photos soon.

Times Of India Durgotsav 2010 Campaign

2010-10-11T09:49:00.006+02:00

Very happy to be part of the 2010 Durgotsav (Mumbai) campaign for

one of the leading newspapers in India, the Times of India.

Image, below, from today's newspaper.

Thank you Kaushal and Taproot for your support,

love your rendition. Take a look at their 2009 campaign as well, real nice!

What better pujo gift for me than this, happy girl!

Thank you.

Friend

2010-10-10T12:49:00.004+02:00

The Lonely Parrot

2010-10-08T16:37:00.009+02:00

Was a little gift for someone.

(pencil on paper)

A bit of a self-portrait.

'Exclusively' for DEEZDEN Readers !!!

2010-08-31T21:43:00.014+02:00

Time for some DEEZDEN pampering for my stylish readers :)!

I am so glad to bring to you lovelies

a one-of-a-kind offer from the recently launched lifestyle brand Exclusively.in,

the online fashion hot-spot where you will find 'Indian-inspired style'

from the country's most coveted designers!

'The store offers members-only access to a carefully-curated collection of fashion,

furnishings, collectibles and travel experiences.'

Here is a little note from the store: 'Under the growing influence of international style and trends, India's centuries' old artisanal traditions have flourished into a coveted fashion aesthetic that feels vintage yet modern and sophisticated. Our buyers scour the boutiques, markets, and designer showrooms -that have long made India a global destination for knowledgeable fashionistas- selecting one-of-a-kind products and luxury services to be delivered straight to your doorstep.'

Aren't these pieces adorable?

So Indian and so chic, from casual to the heavier ethnic pieces...

products that hold on to a style that is

essentially inspired by India and yet is contemporary.

Design and style from high priests of Indian fashion,

the store boasts of names such as Rohit Bal, Satya Paul,

Rajesh Pratap Singh, James Ferreira, Manish Mahotra and many more;

experiences from the worlds of literature (rare first edition books),

travel, home décor: a selection carefully curated by experts in Delhi and New York.

Now its time for me to reveal the offer that they have designed

exclusively for DEEZDEN readers !

A unique direct code that is beneficial only to you gorgeous fashionistas:

www.exclusively.in/invite/deezden

Click on the link above, sign up for Exclusively.in,

and you will receive a credit of $20.00 within 24 hours of sign up!!!

mmmmm.....time for some retail therapy eh? :) enjoy!

Guest Blogger with Gnaana

2010-08-19T01:20:00.007+02:00

We live in a time when work often takes us thousands of miles away from home,

we build our nests and grow families far far away from home.

In such a time and age, all of us feel the need to stay connected to our roots,

and to help the next generation relate to those roots as their own,

to help them know where they belong and identify.

At Gnaana, parents find ways to do just that, as the Gnaana ideology says,

'we bring the wisdom of the past to the children of the future'.

Right from this message by its founder, Aruna (the 'Maharani of possibilities', indeed!)

to the Gnaana blog which is consistently publishing informative posts for parents,

I found their concept and design brilliant as well as extremely

relevant to the way our lives are as of today. Their products are super-adorable,

the das-avatar puzzle being my favourite :). Needless to say,

I was really happy to have been invited to guest blog with Gnaana.

For all those of you who may have missed this, I am publishing with them all of this week.

Here is the first post: Indian Folk Art: A brief Primer for Kids

and the second went on air today: Raising young artists

The third post will be published on Friday, so stay tuned, I'll be posting the third link on FB.

Enjoy your Gnaana tour and hope you'll like the posts by yours truely.

I had said that I'll post my new painting in the next blog,

so here are some sneak-peeks, I am almost done and after seeing this work,

I am sure my readers would understand why I may have missed a deadline.

I would love to hear from you on the Gnaana blogs,

for those of you giving me feedback on FB - thank you.

Little hello!

2010-08-11T12:37:00.006+02:00

Dear readers,

As you must have noticed, I have been off my blog

for sometime. The reason being it was difficult for me

to resist the travelling bit this summer.

I have not gone home in 2 years and

had reached a point where a change

was much needed. So we went hiking,

cruised on boats and took the cable-cars

up to the snow-capped Alps.

I'll be adding some new prints to my shop next week,

and post a new painting in my next blog, so stay tuned :) .

Hope you are all well and enjoying the summer.

~Love and hugs~

Title: 'Haatpakha' (Bengali for handfan)

Medium: Acrylics on watercolour paper

Size: 18cm x 24cm

*will be listed in my shop soon*

Little painting inspired by two of my favourite things,

the Bengali handfan (I have an identical antique

Bengali handfan that I collected some years back from Kolkata)

and the 'Tota' (Indian parakeet).

2010-07-09T19:45:00.000+02:00

enjoy the weekend lovelies :)

Garden of the five senses

2010-07-05T18:24:00.002+02:00

A couple of weeks back, we visited Le Jardin des Cinq Sens

(or the Garden of the five senses) in the medieval town of Yvoire, France.

It was a glorious day, we took the boat from Geneva and sailed for

a little over 1.5 hrs to finally get to the 700+ year old town.

'One of the vegetable gardens surrounding the 14th Century castle in Yvoire was transformed in 1986 and opened to the public.Within this enclosed space the paths, pool and fruit trees were kept and taking the five senses as a theme, a plant maze was created using the techniques and symbols of the Middle Ages.'

'The hornbeam hedges and the espaliered apple trees

of the Jardin des Cinq Sens ®

divide the garden into four rooms, each representing

one of the senses of sight, touch, taste and smell.

The fifth sense of hearing is represented by the sounds of birdsong and water.'

'The labyrinth is, in fact, the castle’s former kitchen garden,

restored according to the art of medieval gardens:

maze of the five senses, espaliered fruit trees, old roses,

hedged cloister with medicinal and scented plants, fountains, birds…'

As you explore the labyrinth, narrow hedges lead you to

'The Garden of smell' and these yellow flowers that smell like jasmine greet you.

The Garden of touch is filled with texture, the most unusual geometric shapes

and pods and thorns and buds.....

'The Garden of sight' has magical shades of blue, mauve and pink....

It is said about this garden that if you revisit the labyrinth,

it'll never be the same experience. It constantly changes colour and

promises to be feel like your first visit each time.

'Un jardin qu'il faut decouvrir lentement avec une âme de poète'

~A garden that needs to be discovered with the soul of a poet~

Hope you enjoyed, I couldn't short-select the snaps so posted almost all :)

Tweet Tweet....

2010-07-01T19:00:00.014+02:00

Hubby came home with a package he picked up in the mail,

wrapped pretty in a brown-paper - full of texture

and beautifully stamped with little birdies in teal :),

all the way from Daly City, California........

my orders from Birdnerd are here !

I fell in love with Chelsea Groves' birds the moment

I bumped into her shop, while randomly browsing through Etsy one morning.

The bright blue ink is hand screen printed on a heavy linen,

the European Starling is a splash of blue in my

red-brown-earthy-toned living area.

The Cedar Waxwing is a beautiful piece in a very Indian red.

The item description read 'Introducing bird art that you can hug!'....so true.

Even the tags threaded around the little birdies look so organic and cute:

I am totally loving the back of the plushies just as much,

printed fabrics in springy colours loaded with more texture.

'One of the things that makes me happiest in the world is when I am outdoors and a bird perches close by on a branch and silently stares at me before flying away.

It's as if all of nature has stopped for a moment and said,

"Well, hello there. I see that you exist.'' '

- Chelsea, from her website

She has an exhaustive collection of her artwork on FlickR.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet resting on our CD rack/library at the moment......

You can read all about the kind of work Chelsea does

and her techniques here. Her paintings, collages (which she likes to refer to as

''painting with paper'') are so intricate and full of delicious detail.

I especially like her linocut prints,

t his print on Thai Unry paper is one of my favourites.

I had to make this post as soon as the parcel arrived,

our home is tweeting a happy tweet right now.

Thank you Chelsea :).......

a bit of a birnerd myself, I feel totally pampered today.

Kalighat Patachitras

2010-06-20T22:25:00.016+02:00

Kalighat Parachitras are one of my favourite folk-art forms from India.

Rooted in Bengali themes, their styling and details

have inspired so many artists over the years.

Scroll painters or 'patua's originally hail from rural Bengal,

artists that breathe life into narrative scrolls in the midst of,

often, hostile life situations and rather limited resources.

Here are some Kalighat pats from an exhibition going on at Tejas Gallery in Kolkata:

Ganesha

''The name “kalighat pata” is applied to a class of paintings and drawings on paper produced by a group of artists called ‘patuas’ in the neighbourhood of the famous Kali Temple at Kalighat , in Calcutta in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The art activities of these ‘patuas’, which shared some common technical and stylistic characteristics, developed into an industry, turning out a great number of pictures to meet the popular demand of pilgrims and others visitors to the city. The artists selected as their themes for delineation popular Hindu deities, incarnations and saints, epic and Puranic anecdotes, historical events, incidents of daily life, social skits and different species of Indian fauna.

In recent times, one artist belonging to a family of patuas, Bhaskar Chitrakar of Kalighat, is reviving this style. Inspired by his grandfather, he has decided to create paintings in the same tradition. The artist is very young but the style is old.''

- Aban Desai, Tejas Gallery, Kolkatta

Maa Durga

*SOLD*

The Goddess of the temple 'Maa Kali' is the subject of many of the pats.

The next painting is really close to my heart;

resembles the calendar art depictions of Goddess Lakshmi

that I referred to for my earlier Lokkhi paintings.

I am collecting this one, she will reside in one of our kitchen walls :) !!

*RESERVED*

Religious themes often inspire Kalighat paintings and

the next one is a rather cute rendition of two of Bengal's most celebrated

saint duo: Nimai-Nitai of the Vaishnava traditions of Bengal.

All of these are painted on handmade paper with vegetable dyes.

The next is another one of my favourites, little tota perched on a saadhu.

''The charm of the Kalighat paintings lies in the fact that

they captured the essence of daily life''

In the next painting, we have a zamindar with his professional ear-cleaner :)

The 'henpecked' husband (!); humour has always been characteristic of these paintings.

The Kalighat tigers and cat-with-prawn paintings are ever-popular and

I find them - stylistically - brilliant.

If you are in Kolkatta, do not miss this exhibition for many more

delightful kalighat pats.

[**Bhaskar Chitrakar's works are available at TEJAS Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road,

(Opp Ice Skating Rink), Kolkata 700019.

Ph:+91-9830049825.

The gallery is open from 12.30 to 7.30 daily except Sundays & public holidays.**]

Here is a video that by Tara Books that showcases scroll-painting beautifully.

Tara books used scroll painters to illustrate their book on Tsunami.

That such a beautiful art is now being referred to as a dying art-form is unfortunate.

The artists in the villages struggle to hold on to their work,

often finding it difficult to afford the paper and materials required to make the scrolls.

Pat-painting has empowered, and still, is empowering many rural woman,

who continue to churn out colourful narrative pieces that

often address social issues and even help spread awareness.

I dedicate my post today to all the patuas of Bengal, past-present and future;

especially my ladies who continue to bring to us such delightful work

and sit down to paint at the end of each day of being a mother/wife/home-maker.

first few captures

2010-06-09T14:24:00.008+02:00

Last Sunday, we had a musical 'baithak' (बैठक in Hindi means lounge,

in this context means an informal function where musicians get together and sing/play),

at a friend's place in the quaint Swiss countryside.

The Geetobitan (referred to as 'Boi' or 'THE book' by Bengalies),

the collection of poems/songs by Rabindranath Tagore.

The harmonium is the traditional /popular/favourite instrument for most

Bongs when singing any genre of folk/Tagore's songs.

Arnab's been playing the sitar since he was about 6-7.

He has got back to playing after almost 17 years

(since he performed at one of his college events)!

These last few pics I took at home at one of his riyaaz (practice) sessions.

Here is a short video I found on Youtube

of a beautiful bandish in raag Hameer

rendered by one of the finest Sitar players of our times:

Ustadji Shahid Parvez-ji

A little update from my Etsy shop is that I have some new listings,

take a look here. Hope you're having a good week :), keep well.

New friend

2010-06-06T21:25:00.001+02:00

Will post photos soon :)

~Have a great week ahead~

Maa Saraswati

2010-05-31T14:52:00.014+02:00

'Maa Saraswati' (Goddess of Knowledge and Learning)

Medium: Acrylics

Mount: Canvas Board

Size: 22cm x 27cm

Varnish: Matt + Glossy

Commissioned work.

This was the sketch for the painting.

Here are close-ups of the detailing:

'The Goddess Saraswati is often depicted as a beautiful, light-skinned woman

dressed in pure white, often seated on a white lotus

(although Her actual vahana is believed to be a swan), which

symbolizes that she is founded in the experience of the Absolute Truth.

Thus, she not only has the knowledge

but also the experience of the Highest Reality.

She is mainly associated with the color white,

which signifies the purity of true knowledge.'

- wikipedia on Goddess Saraswati Iconography

The requirements out of this rendition for the collector was

not a heavily religious undertone, but an imagery depicting Saraswati Maa

seated in the lap of nature, playing the Veena in the full bloom of spring.

In the traditional depictions and descriptions of the Goddess,

she is believed to be adorned with pearls.

I have added a very Bengali touch to her jewellery with the Gold earrings

in the shape of, and named after, 'Kaan's or ears.

Though this one is a small painting, it has a lot of detailing.

The Veena, for instance required some research in getting the structure right;

a majestic instrument indeed.

The varnish, to my mind, has added more depth to the painting

in terms of how it reacts to light differently in certain areas than in

some others. I have worked with both matte and glossy varnishes this time.

You can see what I'm talking about here:

This is one of the only two paintings I've been working on last month.

Personal life and social commitments had completely taken over.

This piece was requested by family friends

who wanted to gift this for their sister's PhD thesis defense,

which was around April end.

Originally timed for then, I have taken much longer to finish this piece :(

However, I am really happy with the end result.

This forced break may have extended some deadlines,

but I think I've got back to work with a fresh mind and renewed energy.

For all of you who have written to me over the last couple of months,

including mails with commission requests,

I am really sorry for not having responded yet.

I'll take up all my pending responses and try to answer your requests by and by.

Many thanks for your patience and love.

Missed you all - a LOT and am SO glad to be back :)!!

Femina feature

2010-04-06T12:01:00.005+02:00

Easter holidays were spent with friends, sumptuous Bengali food and adda!

While I am still recovering from all the fun we had,

had to blog to share with you a fabulous update.

Chandana Banerjee (writer, journalist and CEO of

Pink Elephant Writing Studio) interviewed me for Femina recently.

The article has been published in the Spotlight section,

am totally loving the way they have called it 'Painting her love'.

I am a happy girl today!

Thank you Femina and Chandana for this precious gift :)

2010-03-29T14:24:00.003+02:00

one more sketch for an upcoming commission

'Maa Saraswati' (Goddess of knowledge)

20cm x 25cm

Pencil on paper

preparing

2010-03-26T11:45:00.002+01:00

Sketch for the first in a commissioned series.

Ganesh-ji

30cm x 50cm

Our home featured

2010-03-15T09:30:00.003+01:00

Hello beautiful people!

How was your weekend?

We had a lovely time with friends feasting on

delectable Bengali delicacies!

Weekend was also spent in taking snaps around our home.

Hop over to Aditi's inspiring design and decor blog

Once Upon A Tea Time..............Design Stories

to take the home tour over a cup of ginger-chai!

Thank you Aditi for the feature

Ganeshji at home

2010-03-10T18:53:00.024+01:00

Over the last few years, we have brought home 'Ganesh-ji's....

This is from one of our early morning visits to Sidhhivinayak temple

in Mumbai, the beauty of the murti (idol) at the temple is captivating.

This next one here is a tiny silver Ganesha

that was a gift from the lady at Chamba Lama,

the most famous curio shop in Kolkata.

Not just us three sisters, even dad received a tiny Ganesh-ji

after one of our generous shopping sprees at the store!

It has a beautiful Bhutanese mantra intricately carved all around.

Some of my jewellery and artifacts from the shop in the backdrop :)

I have been visiting this store from my college days..

spent hours (and most of my pocket money at that time) at the store,

which boasts of an awesome selection of

silver jewellery and Tibetan curio.

Even now when I go back to Kolkata,

a visit to Chamba Lama is indispensable.

This little Ganesha is made of sandalwood and gifted to us by Mr. Suryani when

we visited his store/factory in Mysore to purchase

a Ganesh-murti (photo later in this post) with my first salary:)

This is Ganesh-ji carved in stone, from Orissa craftsmen,

collected at a handicraft fair in Mumbai.

Arnab and I had gone with my mom. I loved their detail and form

so much... I had to take home one; it was only after

I had picked Him up that Maa looked and said,

'You picked a Ganesha with his trunk bent towards the right!'.

We are not superstitious but she could not help remark that

apparently it is supposed to be lucky and is very difficult to find

(most Ganesh idols have their trunks bend towards the left,

Siddhivinayak is another exception).

This is the Ganesh-murti we brought from the

Suryani brothers' factory in Mysore in 2004.

And here is the latest addition to our family of Ganeshas,

I painted him on a little block of wood.

Size: 14.5 cm x 24 cm (rounded corners)

Medium: Acrylic paint and acrylic ink

The vahana (mount) of Lord Ganesha is referred to as 'Mooshika'.

In the Hindu pantheon, each deity is seated on a mount(vahana)

which always has a symbolical meaning.

The mouse is apparently used as a symbol of greed and inquisitiveness.

Our mooshika here seems quite controlled and poised, thanks to Ganesh-ji!

The text reads ''श्री गणेशाय नमः '' (Shree Ganehsaya Namah)

(Meaning: 'Gan': people, 'Eshaya':loved by; He who is loved by everyone)

which is so true for Ganesha!

And the winner....s(!) are......

2010-03-01T21:43:00.007+01:00

Wow that participation was amazing guys!

It was so moving to see the response...... I have picked not one but two winners!

So, the lucky winners are: Divya and Megha Chhatbar,

congratulations!!

~Send me your addresses ladies at happydithi@gmail.com ~

A big thanks to all of you for the lovely comments.

The festival of colours is now being celebrated all across India,

a very happy holi to everyone!

I have made a gallery of some of my favourite holi images from Flickr just for you,

do you have a favourite holi image to share?

I would love to see your picks, you can leave a link to your image after this post!

Holi hai, enjoy :)

A thank-you-giveaway!

2010-02-17T00:02:00.020+01:00

Hello beautiful people!

Here are some happy updates from Feb-so-far...

I designed an ad for my shop that went up on craftcult.com all of last week;

a very popular place for almost all Etsians to hang out,

browse through interesting picks,

check the heart-o-matic

and even promote their items!

The shop sales crossed 100 in Feb and, that too, in my birthday week !

The shop-hearts crossed 250 and the blog now has

192 lovely readers who follow the posts.

I have been slightly laid back (to put it mildly) in 2008-09

so far as the listings were concerned.

That is not a bad thing considering the fact that I focussed more on the painting,

slightly more than the shop make-over, promotion and stuff like that.

So far as tending to my shop goes, all that will change this year

...the new banner and new listings are only a part of that change-for-the-better.

I love operating through Etsy for of many reasons,

one of them being a format and some unique features

that are so helpful for the buyers as well as the sellers.

The option of leaving a feedback on a shop being one of them.

A great way to learn how your clients feel about your product

and a great reference point for future prospective collectors.

If you are an Etsian, I would highly recommend making full use of this feature;

it is the best way you can encourage a seller, thank a buyer,

highlight the positives and even upload an appreciation photo!!

I love to see photos of my artwork from

the homes and creative spaces of my wonderful collectors

and I want to thank all of you who have been so kind as to share with me the same.

Recently, I received this photograph in my Etsy mail:

I love the way the print had been matted and mounted.

I could not resist requesting Judy, the collector,

to send a snap of her with the framed print if possible.

In this photo: Judy with her grand-children and the framed 'Naani's Lullaby print.

I was really touched when I saw your photo Judy,

there is so much love in this capture.

I felt really bad for having given you the trouble,

for any inconvenience that this may have caused,

but I can't tell you how much I will treasure this.

Thank you for your love and kindness.

Now, as promised in my previous post, I have a give-away for you my readers!

It is a print of my 'Lalita Sundari' painting on A4 archival paper

(watermarks will not appear on the print)!

To enter the draw, enter your name and a comment after this post.

You have time until next Sunday, 28 Feb, 8 pm Geneva time, best of luck!

I will announce the winner, take your address and ship this print out soon after!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

***Comments are now closed , I'll announce the winner later today***

Turning 31!

2010-02-16T19:34:00.008+01:00

Hello beautiful people!! How are you enjoying the love season?

It was my birthday on the 14th, I turned 31 this year!

My eldest sis, brother-in-law and darling niece visited us from Oxford over the weekend; it was so much fun! I am the youngest of us three sisters and reasonably younger to both of them to have always been pampered silly. I vividly remember the day before each of my birthdays; my sisters would act so funny, huddle up, go into our grandmother's room to be talking to each other in hushed tones, give me a silly smile if I bumped into them, wait for me to go off to bed; only to secretly prepare the prettiest birthday tray for me with hand-drawn cards and goodies.

This is what my birthday tray looked like this year....a darling red pull, a bag of MAC goodies and the prettiest hand-drawn birthday card from my niece....to name a few.

They call me 'Tota' at home (tota in Bengali means parrot):))

It was a beautifully bright and warm day.....

we had a sumptuous Cantonese lunch at a restaurant overlooking lake Geneva,

followed by a visit to the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève

to see 'Le regard de Kannon' or the 'Kannon's gaze' exhibition. The show was sublime, the budhhist chants would go off in the hall every time we turned the prayer wheels installation.

The 'Kannon' has such a powerful and awe-inspiring form; the statuetes, the ancient Japanese thangkas, the Buddhist artefacts collected from all over the world and the prayers in the background and completely transformed the energy of the show.

It felt like we were in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet.

A generous sprinkling of La Durée macarons made the Valentine's experience complete!

Moving on, here is an interview that I did recently with creative writer Barnali Saha

based in Nashville; it was published in the online magazine 'Palki'(Bengali for palanquin).

Thank you Barnali, Kausik and the Palki team for doing this!

I am off now you guys, I have some printing and shipping to do tomorrow morning!

Stay tuned for a give-away in my next post!

**Love and hugs and big thanks to each one of you for making last year so precious**

New Etsy shop banner

2010-02-08T00:29:00.003+01:00

Here is my new banner for the Etsy shop you guys!

Of course it is busy and over the top...that's just the way I like it!

I am going to work harder on the shop this year;

changing the banner was a first step.....

hop over to see how it looks on the shop page and check out my new prints listings!

Also, a big thank you for all the support on the IP violation matter

(on facebook and here on my previous post).

I am going to go through with the legal procedure, will keep you all posted.

Have a great week ahead!

xxHUGSxx

Stolen

2010-01-28T13:38:00.009+01:00

This is a painting that I did on September 2008 as part of a two-painting Bengali couple set.

You can read the post about this set from my blog here.

I sold the set through Etsy subsequently.

One of you readers informed me on this blog a few weeks back that one of my paintings have been used for a book cover. I had no idea and initially thought this might have been a confusion. However, more confirmations from the reader(s) and subsequent googling led to us finding this:

The book is called ''That Calcutta Those Bongs'' by

the very well known publishing house Rupa Publications.

All my work is protected by a Creative Commons License

that is mentioned right on top of the blog.

Any use of my images without an authorization from me is not permissible.

Anyway, a result of this unfortunate and unnecessary development means that I will be watermarking all my work from now on....

something that I really dislike doing.

I will be writing to Rupa & Co. about this and post updates for you.

A BIG thank you to all of you readers who informed me about this.

What would I do without you guys?!

The ''Batua''

2010-01-14T15:10:00.006+01:00

Title: ''Batua'' (or the little pouch bag)

Medium: Acrylic

Size: 18cm x 24cm

The 'Batua' or the little pouch was a bit of a fashion statement in the olden times.

It was used to carry money, betel leaves or 'paan' or other valuables.

My grandmother had quite a collection of these, in a myriad of colours and materials;

some made of velvet and gold embroidery, some were beaded and yet some others

that would have been handcrafted from beautifully hand-printed colourful Indian fabric.

Here is a beautiful example of the batua.

I have been doing quite a bit of shopping in this winter-sale season and

I think she is going shopping too, all made up and

carrying her little fashion statement with her!!

She is wearing the 'Taant' or Bengali handloom saree in the traditional style of drape

with a puff-sleeved blouse to go with it. The black and white checkered floor is also quite a significant design element in the old 'Banedi' Bengali houses.

This painting is not up for sale but I will make prints available at the shop soon.

snowy update

2010-01-10T22:07:00.005+01:00

let me take you through snowy Geneva...

As we stepped out yesterday, to our surprise, she greeted us, right in front our building

There is a primary school in the neighbourhood, now the swing is quiet

It was wonderfully bright today, after a blizzard yesterday evening, I wasn't the only one who came out to enjoy the snow in the sun....

Right in front of a series of cafés, which, to my surprise, were all open

(in Geneva, most places shut down) and full

I was so tempted to take snaps of people inside these warmly lit pretty places

but realized that I am too shy to be a good photo-journalist :(

So, got snaps of the cars on the street right in front, instead...

Here is the post office, where all your prints and paintings are shipped out from :)

I have never lived in a place that saw this much of snow .... it is quite something

can you see the mountains at the back, we are not very far away

''un...deux...trois...'' and a collective push

and passers by kept gathering and trying to help.....

several times .......but no luck till then.....

took this snap rather nervously and felt guilty about it

well, some others, were doing just fine, moving around with a dollop on top

and this, my friend, is my pick from what I got this weekend

.....some people sure know how to party....no matter what!!!

Annapurna Maa

2009-12-31T09:32:00.012+01:00

Title: Annapurna Goddess feeding Shiva

Size: 25 cm x 40 cm

Medium: Acrylic paints

Mount: Pre-stretched gallery wrapped canvas

(Commissioned piece)

Anna means 'food' in Sanskrit, and purna means 'filled completely'.

Annapurna is a Hindu goddess of food and nourishment.

Maa Annapurna is traditionally depicted as below,

giving out rice to Lord Shiva who is shown with a alms bowl.

Read the mythological backdrop to this rendition here.

Here is the calender-art style depiction of baby Shiva

Archana, who had commissioned the ''Lalita Sundari'' painting,

wanted me to render this one for her sister, who is named after the Goddess.

She wanted this composition to be along the lines of the 'Lalita Sundari',

therefore, Lord Shiva as a baby on the Goddess's lap, she feeding her.

Click to see the sketch that we had before I started the painting.

***These are some beautiful snaps of Archana with my paintings,

this was when she had moved to her new apartment***

Here are some close-ups for details:

The rice-grain hangings from the wall behind have a little story.

I remember this one time, I was probably in school then

and we were in our ancestral home near Kolkata.

Our gardener Insaan had come back to join work after a holiday in his village.

He brought with him this beautiful one-of-a-kind wall hanging for us

that his mother had hand-crafted from rice-grains.....my inspiration for the design.

It still hangs in my mom's kitchen in that house, and Insaan,

still lives in that house and tends to our rose-garden there.

This will be my last painting of 2009.

As an artist and entrepreneur, it has been a very interesting year for me, full of surprises.

...Quite a bit of learning, evolving as an artist, understanding the medium better.....

what is precious is the interaction I have had with you all.

For all the lovely emails that I received,

all the paintings and prints that you have collected,

all the support and love....and approval ....thank you !

I hope that the next year will be even more interesting for us and for Deezden,

here is wishing you all, my friends, a great 2010!!

Commissioned artwork

2009-12-23T09:04:00.012+01:00

Title: ''Maa-meye'' (Mother-daughter in Bengali)

Size: 30 cm x 50 cm
Medium: Acrylic on pre-stretched gallery wrapped canvas

Finished with a mix of matte and brilliant acrylic varnish.

The text in Bengali says:
''মধুর আমার মায়ের হাসি চাঁদের মুখে ঝরে''
(Madhur amar mayer hashi chander mukhe jhore)
(Transliteration: My mother's smile, sweet like honey,

drips from her face as radiant the moon)

I have used brilliant varnish only on the text and the jewels so that

the rest of the painting has this matt effect, letting these elements stand out .

This was the photo that was sent to me from the Collector, Arnab,

of his beautiful wife Sunita and their lovely daughter, the reference for my composition.

This is how my mom used to tie my hair when I was a little girl,

with a generous dose of warmed coconut oil (which is considered to be the age-old-Indian-secret-potion to long-healthy-shiny hair)!!!

The hair-do is called a ''kala-binuni'' (binuni in Bengali means plait)

and very popular even today (more in towns and villages)

for little girls in many parts of Bengal.

I thought this goes beautifully with our folk theme.

Arnab had a suggestion and asked me,

during the conceptualization of this portrait, the possibility of adding

a "....half-open red lotus with stem in the mother's hand...''

as ''....the symbol of love, protection, purity & fertility/eternity...."

The parrot in the background was also something he had proposed initially.

Both, I was happy to add.

Bengali elements in this portrait:

White saree with a red border worn in the traditional drape

(a bunch of household keys were tied in a knot at the end of the saree

behind the left-shoulder), the bangles,

the red 'bindi', the style of the blouse with lace border,

text taken from a very popular Bengali poem,

the hair-accessories seen from behind the mom's chignon and of course the little girl's hair-do,

the ''Tiya'' or parrot on a bird-perch is also a favourite Bengali household pet.

2009-12-11T22:52:00.003+01:00

A BIG thank you from my mom for your wonderful wishes,

this Sufi song is for you guys!

**new painting soon**

For you Maa......

2009-11-16T20:59:00.004+01:00

Sketches for the two commissions that I am working on now......

''Maa-meye'' (which in Bengali means Mother -daughter)

Mixed media on paper, 30cm x 50cm

Here is a close-up of little birdie:

The second sketch is also a mother-child portrait:

Goddess Annapurna feeding rice to baby Shiva,

Mixed media on paper, 28cm x 42cm.

These two sketches are *not for sale*,

they will stay with moi in my home-studio :)

It is my mom's birthday today:)

I wish I could fly back to her to plant this kiss in person,

she will have to make do with this for now

Here is one of my favourite photos of her, just for my readers :)!!

This was taken by Baba (dad) on their honey-moon, on a Shikara in Kashmir.

Love you Maa

Happy birthday!

Maa Lokkhi with Owl

2009-11-03T12:29:00.005+01:00

Title: Maa Lokkhi , commissioned piece

(Bengali school rendition of the Goddess of Wealth Maa Lakshmi)

Size: 35 cm x 45 cm

Medium: Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Varnished, signed and dated

The jewellery and crown is rendered along the lines of traditional temple jewellery.

The owl comes back as the vahana as I did this for a Bengali collector.

This was the photo of an antique basara pearl nose ring

that I used as reference for painting the Goddess's ornament.

I found this beautiful piece here.

last days of fall

2009-11-02T08:49:00.003+01:00

2009-10-30T12:20:00.001+01:00

Sketching for a commission,

Annapurna Maa (Hindu Goddess of nourishment) feeding baby Shiva.

2009-10-26T20:37:00.002+01:00

We had a great weekend, hope you did too.

Will be back with a new painting soon.

Thank you all for the lovely Diwali wishes.

dee

2009-10-17T00:14:00.003+02:00

Wishing you all a very happy diwali

and a prosperous year ahead!